PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today ruled that the murder case of Navy Cadet Officer Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain from seven years ago represents one of the rarest and most extreme forms of cruelty, and it will not tolerate such crimes.
Judge Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, who led the three-judge panel, delivered a 93-page judgment for over three hours, stating that no parent could fail to feel disappointment, anger, sadness, and grief upon receiving their beloved child’s body in such a heart-wrenching and tragic condition.
“This case is among the rarest of the rare, involving extreme cruelty that poses a grave danger to society, and such inhumane acts must be stopped.
“The court will not tolerate such incidents. What parent can bear the suffering of seeing their beloved child tortured in such a way that leads to their death in such a horrifying state?” she said, sitting with Judges Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Datuk Azmi Ariffin.
The court imposed the death penalty on six former students of Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) for the murder of Zulfarhan, after allowing the prosecution’s cross-appeal to reinstate their initial murder charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
The six former students, now aged 28, are Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi Azmal, Muhammad Azamuddin Mad Sofi, Muhammad Najib Mohd Razi, Muhammad Afif Najmudin Azahat, Mohamad Shobirin Sabri, and Abdoul Hakeem Mohd Ali.
Judge Hadhariah stated that the court agrees with the prosecution that the manner in which the murder was committed “shocked not only the judicial conscience but even the collective conscience of society.”
She explained that under the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023, which came into effect on March 16, 2023, the penalties for murder include either the death sentence or imprisonment of not less than 30 years and not more than 40 years, along with no fewer than 12 strokes of the cane.
However, she highlighted the aggravating factors in this case, noting that the victim was innocent and that the actions of the first to fifth accused were extremely sadistic.
“The victim’s hands and feet were tied while they pressed a steam iron against his body. Before that, the victim had already been beaten up by the group.
“Despite seeing the victim writhing in pain, the six accused ignored his suffering and continued pressing the iron against his entire body (except the face), resulting in 90 burns,” said the judge.
Hadhariah stated that the actions of the first to fifth accused in pressing a steam iron against various parts of the victim’s body, including his private parts, demonstrated their malicious intent, cruelty, inhumanity, and lack of compassion towards their fellow student.
She said all the accused concealed the victim after torturing him with a hot iron, to prevent their crime from being discovered by superiors.
They also did not take the victim to the Serdang Hospital for treatment despite being advised by the seventh prosecution witness, Dr. Azfar Hussin, a medical officer at As-Salam Clinic, Bandar Baru Bangi.
“Two referral letters to the hospital were also provided. (They were) Blaming the victim in this incident, while in reality, all the problems stemmed from the evil deeds of the first to sixth accused,” she emphasised.
Hadhariah noted that the court found the trial judge to be confused when stating that it was unclear which specific injury on the victim’s body caused his death.
“The trial judge also erred in stating that the court needed to identify the most serious injury to determine whether the six accused intended to cause death,” she said.
“The prosecution only needed to prove that all the accused had the intent to cause injury, not necessarily that they intended to inflict injuries that would typically result in death,“ the judge stated.
Meanwhile, the three-judge panel overturned the three-year prison sentences imposed on 12 other former students of the same university for injuring Zulfarhan to four years of imprisonment.
The 12 are Mohd Hafiz Fauzan Ismail, Mohamad Lukhmanul Hakim Mohd Zain, Ahmad Shafwan Berdal, Muhammad Amirul Asraff Mala, Luqman Hakim Shamsuri Agus, Muhammad Sufi Mohd Mustapha, Noriznan Izzairi Noor Azhar, Muhamad Ashraf Abdullah, Muhammad Danial Firdaus Azmir, Muhammad Hasif Ismail, Muhammad Adib Iman Fuad Ady Sani, and Mohamad Syazwan Musa.
They were found guilty of deliberately causing injury to Zulfarhan to obtain a confession that he had stolen a laptop and were charged under Section 330 of the Penal Code, which provides for a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a fine, upon conviction.
All of them, now aged 28, were accused of committing the acts in two rooms at the Jebat hostel block at UPNM between May 21 and 22, 2017.
Deputy public prosecutors K. Mangai, Solehah Noratikah Ismail, and N. Joy Jothi appeared for the prosecution, while all the accused were represented by a team of lawyers comprising Datuk Mohd Zamri Mohd Idrus, Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, Datuk Hazman Ahmad, Amer Hamzah Arshad, AG Kalidas, Datuk Seri M. Ramachelvam, Azizzul Shariman Mat Yusoff, Datuk Abdul Karim Abd Rahman, and Ariff Azami Hussein.
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